If Love Island has taught us anything, it’s that dermal fillers are utterly ubiquitous in modern society – you can even get fillers in Superdrug now.

The popular cosmetic treatment involves the injection of a dermal filler to plump and alter the shape of the face. While permanent silicone fillers have been used in the past, most people prefer to opt for hyaluronic acid-based fillers like Juvederm, for more temporary results.

Hyaluronic acid is a naturally occurring molecule that is found in your body, and any injected amounts will be absorbed into the body after a few months.

As popular as the treatment is, it is not without complications. The non-surgical side of the cosmetics industry is almost entirely unregulated, with any regulations being introduced relatively recently.

In fact, there is nothing in the law to prevent someone with no qualifications whatsoever from supplying, buying and administrating dermal fillers. Yeah, scary.

If you decide that you want to have the treatment, it’s pretty much up to you to make sure you’re in safe hands. So, do your research. What qualifications do they have? Where is the clinic? What do past patients say? Before you even set eyes on a syringe, you should know the brand name, ingredients and the strength of what is being injected into you.

While there are thousands of destinations offering fillers and other non-surgical cosmetic treatments, here’s a few of the best places for fillers in London that the GLAMOUR team can vouch for with total confidence.

Alexandra Haq

Alex Haq is known for offering natural-looking lips, using VIVACY which is dubbed as the ‘Chic Filler’. Based at 10 Harley Street, she’s one of London’s most loved, and safe, practitioners.

Source: https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/best-lip-fillers-london

Product

VIVACY dermal lip filler.

The Hype

The Paris-based company has recently set up camp in Mayfair, London, after becoming the no.1 company for fillers in France, famous for achieving the ‘French Look’ – soft, chic and natural. Dubbed as the ‘Chic Filler’, VIVACY focus on “enhancing natural beauty with subtle changes”.

Reviewer

Chloe Laws, GLAMOUR UK Social Media Editor

Beauty Bio

I’ve never had any type of cosmetic work done before, so getting lip filler was daunting. The idea of a natural-looking lip enhancement has always appealed to me, but the possibility of coming out with overfilled and lumpy lips put me off. We’ve all seen the horror stories. I’ve never disliked my lips, but do vividly remember at age 16 getting hit in the face with a football and actually loving the puffed-up result I accidentally achieved. Lip filler was something I’d thought about, but not given any proper consideration.

The Review

I met with Alex Haq at 10 Harley Street one week ahead of my appointment, for a consultation; I went in with the mindset that I wouldn’t agree to anything unless I 100% trusted and felt safe in the practitioner’s hands. Alex is a Facial Aesthetics & Cosmetic Dermatologist at Invictus Humanus, which has clinics in London and Northern Ireland. I viewed this in the same way I do when picking a hairdresser – I want them to have great locks so I know their taste is good, and Alex had a great face – natural with a few tweakments.

Within 5 minutes I had already decided I absolutely wanted the fillers; she got my vision of bee-stung lips with no lumps, and understood how much I wanted my natural shape to stay intact. We also spoke about the fact I suffer from psoriasis and therefore would need to be extra careful with aftercare due to the fact I’m more susceptible to infection. I left feeling excited and prepped with aftercare tips.

For the actual procedure, I was in and out of the clinic within the hour. I ended up getting just 0.8ml, originally we agreed 0.5ml but because my lips aren’t symmetrical, the right side needed more of a helping hand.

People always want to know “was it painful?”, and to be honest, it’s all subjective. The numbing cream is the weirdest part, but it’s not painful, just an ‘odd’ sensation. The actual injections (I didn’t go for a canular), for me, didn’t hurt at all – you can feel it, sure, but it’s just like a pinprick.

I loved them as soon as I looked in the mirror – due to Alex’s incredible handiwork I didn’t get any bruising (pro tip, take arnica tablets for a few days before). They felt hard and swollen for about two days, and then they settled – a much speedier healing process than I’d imagined.

The Verdict

A fortnight after getting lip fillers, I have zero regrets. A lot of people haven’t even noticed I’ve had them done owing to how natural we went, and everyone I’ve told has been super positive. After posting about it on my Instagram Stories, I’ve had around 40 DMs from people telling me they’d now consider lip fillers after seeing how subtle mine look.

As with any beauty or cosmetic treatments, only put your looks in the hands of someone you trust. Go with your gut feeling and good vibes, because being on the same page as Alex with what I wanted to achieve made all the difference.

Source: https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/vivacy-review

As the saying goes, every wrinkle tells a story, but you may want to keep all those stories to yourself…

We don’t blame you!

The best way to avoid wrinkles is to get ahead of what causes them – much of which is in your control, including:

Your Age

OK, we can’t really change our age, but wrinkles are another thing we can blame on our depleting supply of collagen. The building block of elastic youthful skin, our collagen supply dwindles with advancing age. The good news: There are a bonafide ways to prevent the break down of collagen and boost its production. The growing list includes PDO threads. The PDO thread lift is a procedure in which specialised CE approved surgical threads made from polydioxanone are injected into the skin using a fine needle/ cannula. The threads are interlaced causing a tension in the skin which delivers an instant
lift.

The threads dissolve after 6-8 months. During this time they stimulate the production of “new” collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid, thickening and strengthening the skin from within and improving elasticity so it retains a lifted appearance for up to 2 years post treatment.

Some injectables also volumize by enhancing collagen production.

Your Genes

OK, we can’t change our genes…yet. If your mum had furrows, chances are you will too unless you take steps to protect your skin from the sun’s rays and other known causes of wrinkles.

Exposure to UV light breaks down your skin’s connective tissue including collagen and elastin in the deeper layer of skin. When this occurs, your skin begins to sag and wrinkle. Stop this process in its tracks by using Daily Sheer Broad-Spectrum SPF 50 all year round. See the our shop for the list of SPF we stock in clinic.

Smoking

Those vertical lip lines are called smoker’s lines for a reason. Smoking produces free radicals in the body, which contribute to premature aging. Antioxidants like vitamin C sop
up damaging free radicals, and C-Bright Serum 10% Vitamin C is chock full of vitamin C. This serum helps minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles when used as directed. The repetitive pursing of lips that occurs when you smoke also causes wrinkles. If you smoke, the best thing you can do is quit, and if you don’t smoke, don’t start. Wrinkling is but one of a laundry list of problems and diseases that are caused and worsened by smoking.

Pollution

Oxidative stress from pollution ages the skin and damages its ability to repair itself from damage. If moving or switching occupations isn’t an option, an antioxidant serum such as C-Bright 10% Vitamin C Serum will provide a high dose of stabilized pure vitamin C to reduce the effects of pollution on the skin. The addition of coenzyme Q10, another powerful antioxidant, helps to defend against other environmental triggers that cause inflammation.

You survived high school. You sailed through college. Your breakouts were still showing up in your twenties. But you hit your thirties and your acne is still flaring up, and you thought you would be done by now…

You’re not alone. Adult acne is more common than you think. But it is different than the acne you had during your teens in several ways.

The key difference is that teenage age is caused by active oil glands and excess oil production, whereas adult acne is caused by hormonal activity. As we age, cell turnover slows down, so in adults, the oil builds up and causes inflammation, cystic acne and pimples.

Teenage acne tends to show up all over the face, and back, chest and shoulders. Adult acne is more commonly found on the lower face, chin and jawline.

The way to treat teen acne is also different than the best treatments for adults. For starters, young skin that produces too much oil needs more aggressive treatments to reduce the presence of p.acnes bacteria and dry up all that oil that causes the areas around nose and cheeks to shine. Adult skin is more fragile, delicate and sensitive, so it tends to dry out more quickly. The best treatments are more gentle and easier to
tolerate. In addition, adult women want to be able to wear foundation, so acne therapy needs to allow them to have a smooth surface to apply daily makeup without flaking and peeling.

Fortunately, the ZO® Skin Health and ZO® Medical ranges offer formulations that are suited to treat all types of acne for women and men of all ages.